War and Peace
by Vaneria Potter
Summary: The Trojan War was famous for the gods getting involved and taking sides. The Goddess Eirene was no exception. Apollo did have his vengance for the destruction of his priests, but not in the way anyone expected.
1. Chapter 1

_Disclaimer: I do not own Troy, the Illiad, or any of the associated characters. All rights go to Homer and the movie producers._

 _Summary: Apollo was the god of prophecy, and knew what the outcome of the Trojan War would be. An AU in which some people choose common sense over eternal glory._

* * *

 **Chapter One**

Regardless of what certain people thought, Apollo did, in fact, see all, and had opinions on most of it. Briseis was a sweet girl, who did not deserve the grief and suffering that was headed her way, and Apollo had always had a soft spot for those who served him.

That wasn't the only reason, of course, but he would have tried to intervene anyway. The prayers of Briseis and the dying hopes of his priests merely gave him a valid excuse.

He was the God of Prophecy, and knew what the future held if the war continued down this path. There would be centuries, even millennia, of hereditary hatred. Countless lives lost, in a war that would eventually be remembered with scorn, rather than praise. The Trojan War would be viewed, in ages yet to come, not as heroic deeds, but as senseless bloodshed due to men thinking with something other than their heads.

Careful planning was not Apollo's strong point, but he and Poseidon had worked hard on those damn walls, and he did not intend to see them fall just because someone couldn't satisfy his wife and she ran off with someone who could.

Besides, how often would he get the opportunity to boast a winning strategy that Athena hadn't presented first? The bragging rights alone were more than worth the loss of a young priestess who had been destined for greater things.

Admittedly, Athena may have considered such a plan, but she was still fuming over the Goddess of Beauty being awarded the title of fairest after the fiasco at Thetis's wedding, and her wounded pride combined with her war-goddess power to make her nearly as bloodthirsty as Ares. Apollo didn't see the logic in why she was so upset, but knew better than to say anything.

Eirene would help him with the fine details of the planning, if he asked nicely and offered to stop flirting with her daughter, one of the rare Heroines to have been trained by Chiron. Eirene's daughters tended to be fiercer than her sons, to everyone's amusement except their mother's.

The flirting wasn't serious, but it was rare to find someone with the nerve to tell a god to go away – and in verse, too! Who could blame him for finding the girl attractive? The goddess of peace was rarely filled with enough passion to create children, especially compared to the other Olympian Gods, so she tended to be protective of the few she had.

The Goddess of Peace had a son in Troy, too, serving as ambassador, and large-scale fighting – especially if it endangered her comparatively few children – always put her in a bad mood. Doubtless she was already working on ideas to mitigate the damage. A thousand ships had already been launched on their way to Troy, but that didn't mean that there were not still possibilities.

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Apollo found Eirene in her temple, making notes on a shard of pottery and muttering darkly in a way that suggested that someone was about to suffer in a very understated way that couldn't be traced back to her.

As the one who had been blamed for Hermes suffering an inability to 'rise to the occasion' for almost a year after the Messenger tried to bed a Daughter of Eirene about a century ago, Apollo was familiar with the expression, and knew to approach carefully. "Good morning, Eirene. What has you so upset?"

The goddess looked up, eyes flashing for a moment, but relaxed upon seeing him. For all that most of the other gods ignored Apollo's prophecies when it suited them, Eirene never did, and knew that he wouldn't have sought her out unless he had a good reason. "I asked Athena's advice on how to avoid war, and would you believe that she refused to help because she's still upset that Paris didn't choose her as the fairest?"

Apollo sat down. "Easily, yes. I hope that doesn't mean you're giving up?"

Eirene huffed. "Don't be insulting. Mitigating a conflict is always harder than stopping it before it begins, but I'm sure I can manage something, with support. Are you offering, and if so, why?"

Apollo tried not to feel offended at the implication that he couldn't do something nice without an ulterior motive. "One of my priestesses is going to get caught up in this, and not in a good way. Besides, Poseidon and I worked too hard on those walls to watch them fall for one mortal king's ego."

It might have been punishment for rebellion, which only Athena had managed to talk her way out of, but they had built that wall as mortals, and even if Apollo had only helped because the work of a herder was boring (especially when all he had to do was hum and every animal within miles, domestic or wild, listened peacefully), he was oddly proud of the results.

Luckily, Eirene accepted that. "We need to bring Aphrodite and Ares on board. Morpheus, too, so that I can send dreams to my children with instructions. I'll explain more once I have everyone together."

Apollo nodded. "I'll talk to the lovers if you talk to Morpheus, and meet back here. We don't have much time."

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 _A/N: I was talking with friends a while back, and we got to discussing the Trojan War, and how it could have been handled so much better. And thus this fic was born._

 _This chapter was just setting up the background, and we'll get into the movie itself next chapter. In the meantime, questions, comments and constructive criticisms are much appreciated._

 _Thanks,_

 _Nat_


	2. Chapter 2

_Disclaimer: I do not own Troy, or any of the associated characters._

 _Summary: See previous chapters._

* * *

 **Chapter Two**

Aphrodite was sulking over the fact that coming events threatened to damage the romantic pairing she had created. She was also smart enough to realise that she was going to receive a lot of the blame if this war ended in too much bloodshed and turmoil. Even if the other gods weren't exactly exerting themselves to stop the war (very much the opposite, actually), she would be blamed for starting it.

Ares was sulking over the fact that he was going to have to choose between his lover, and the bloodlust that was his nature. Despite the bloodthirstiness of Menelaus and Agamemnon, the two kings refused to offer Ares sacrifices or tribute for their victories. In a twisted way, Ares was also annoyed that Agamemnon (via Nestor's advice) had come up with the tactic of limiting the battles to one between champions, resulting in far fewer battlefield deaths than the God of War would like.

Gaining their co-operation was one of the easiest things Apollo had ever done.

Next was to gain the co-operation of Eirene's heroine daughter, Eurydice, which promised to be a much harder task. Eirene promised that she had helped smooth the way by visiting Eurydice in her dreams and explaining matters, but Apollo didn't know how much that would help. The very fire that he found so attractive in the Demigoddess also made her not a good person to cross, and the children of Peace were not fond of War.

* * *

The Daughter of Eirene was sparring against a demigod Son of Ares, neither gaining any significant advantage, to her opponent's visibly mounting fury. Chiron called a halt to the match as soon as he spotted Apollo, the Godlings lowering their weapons to bow.

Apollo waved for them to rise and caught Eurydice's eye, getting straight to business. "Your mother said that she had spoken to you about a task. Will you accept it?"

The demigoddess raised an eyebrow. "I will, but getting there may pose a problem. Practically every ship in Attica had departed before she visited my dreams, no merchant vessel will go within five leagues of the area, and if I try to go by land, I will not get there in time."

As gods, who could be in many places at once, or travel anywhere in the blink of an eye, that had not occurred to any of the immortals who were attempting to stop the war. Thinking quickly, Apollo held out a hand. "I can take you there, before the Greeks arrive. Will you trust me?"

Eurydice accepted it reluctantly. "Not as far as I can throw a mountain, but I don't have many alternatives. This is going to be terrible for my reputation."

Well, at least she was truthful, even if Apollo would prefer a bit less bluntness. He lifted her into his arms and leaped into the air, flying toward Troy.

* * *

Eurydice's brother was called Alexander, and was willing to help his sister get an audience with King Priam and his council. While most of Troy celebrated the return of their princes and the arrival of Helen, Prince Hector and the various ambassadors were not oblivious to the trouble that undoubtedly lay in their future. If a child of Eirene could avert war, they were not going to quibble over the gender or traditional role of that child.

After a nod of permission from King Priam, Alexander started the council. "Has our Lady Mother said anything to you about what is going to happen?"

Facing the King and his council, Eurydice didn't look at her half-brother as she nodded. "She has told me as much as she is allowed to, yes. Athena is letting her pride control her, but Apollo, Aphrodite and Ares have formed an alliance with Mother in the hopes of a peaceful resolution. Apparently, Agamemnon doesn't offer the appropriate sacrifices to Ares, who would also like to stay in his lover's good graces, and Aphrodite favours the match between Helen and Paris."

Hector frowned, muttering under his breath, "I hate it when Gods get personally involved…" He cleared his throat at the stern look from his extremely-pious father. "Has Lady Eirene offered any suggestions of how we are to avoid war?"

Eurydice nodded. "Several, but can you call Helen in, first? I need her confirmation and opinion on a few things before we attempt to put it into practice."

King Priam dispatched a messenger to fetch Helen just as a guard ran in. "Your Majesty, My Lords, the Greek fleet has landed."

* * *

Poseidon was clearly still carrying a grudge over how a long-previous King of Troy had treated him when he was sentenced to build the walls as a mortal, as punishment for rebellion against Zeus, and had blessed the Greek ships with fortunate winds and currents that saw the fleet arrive in a matter of days, rather than the weeks or months it should have taken to co-ordinate a large-scale invasion.

Apollo had been helping Eunomia in attempting to stop Eirene and Ares from coming to blows in a strategy meeting when his temple was attacked. On top of that, being the God of Truth included Hard Truths, such as the fact that it was too early to show their hand, until some other God interfered first, and that Briseis was destined to meet Achilles, and she couldn't do that if she was safely behind the walls of Troy.

Apollo sent a pulse of healing to Briseis, taking care of her more serious injuries, and hoped that it would provide her with the confidence to stay strong in the face of the terror she must undoubtedly be feeling.

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 _A/N: OK, so there is an OC or two in the fic, but they won't be love-interests, and I'll try not to make them too Sue-ish. Feedback on how I'm doing would be much appreciated._

 _Anyway, I'll be hopping over the pond to Italy tonight, so don't expect me to post anything for at least two weeks. We'll see how things stand when I get back._

' _ **A SCA Girl in Middle-Earth'**_ _,_ _ **'Reintroduction'**_ _,_ _ **'A Friend In Need'**_ _and_ _ **'Striking Back**_ _' have also been updated, along with a new "_ _50 Shades of Grey_ _" fanfic entitled_ _ **'The Sub-Club'.**_

 _Yeah, I know, I have got to stop having plot-bunny-spawning conversations with friends, even if they do have amusing ideas._

 _Thanks,_

 _Nat_


End file.
